TZ 2016 – Shopping Day (5/3)
Adventures in “test driving” a house:
We started today with the normal weekday routine of joining the staff of the Diocese at morning chapel. We were going to have a later breakfast at the Bishop’s house, and decided to use the electric kettle to make some tea while we were waiting. We also had the hot water heater on. We blew the circuit. Not just in our rooms, but also at the Bishop’s house, which is where the power is coming from until the electric authority gets around to running a line directly to the hostel. (Things are different in Tanzania.) At first we thought that maybe the power was out all over the compound, but after a walk up to the offices, where there was still power, we determined that the issue was more local. The problem was quickly solved after identifying where it originated. We also got some bananas and home-made bread from Andrea out of the walk.
After breakfast we went shopping with Ephraim for a guide. We stopped at a street-side shop on the “main drag” and saw a love seat and matching chair that we thought would be nice. Even though I almost always end up going with the first thing I see that I like, it would not be good stewardship not to shop around. We stopped at several other shops. One did not have anything ready made. He had pictures of various models and they would custom make in about a week. The furniture was lovely, ornate and way to large for the sitting room space. (Folks here like to have seat 8 to 10 people, no matter how small their sitting room is. You can imagine how crowded some of the rooms can get. We want a more “American” sense of space.). Another only had two models that I did not really like. We eventually ended up back were we started. While we waited for the proprietor to put our choice of ends on the arms of the chair and love seat, Ephraim and I went down the street to find and buy a coffee table. There is already one in the bedroom, but I like it there, so we needed one for the sitting room. Ephraim had called for a truck from the diocese to come down to bring back the furniture, so we headed back to the hostel.
While the furniture was being set up, Cannon Wilson Mafumbi arrived with a two-burner gas-cooker and a large can of butane, as
propane is referred to here. Now we don’t need to use the electric kettle, but we had not pots or pans, so we headed back out with a different guide to shop for smaller domestic items. I could find a frying pan, but I could not find a kettle or even what we consider to be a normal pot with a handle, unless I wanted to buy the entire set (I didn’t). I ended up buying one of the smaller aluminum pans with a large flat rim, that is the standard pot for cooking over charcoal fires. We also got a thermos to keep the hot water in, a set of mugs (which is a full dozen mugs – way more than we need but that’s the way they come), a small plastic basin for washing dishes and two trash buckets. Then we got some basic food supplies: Neato, Africaf, bread, honey, peanut butter and cookies. We will want to supplement with some eggs, tomatoes, avocados and other fresh fruits, but with the food supplies we bought with us and these basics, we hope to be able to take care of most of our breakfast and lunch needs.
At this point, I was exhausted and took a nap!
We had a lovely dinner with Emmanuel Bwatta and his family, then back to the compound to blog, and in my case, to do a little bookkeeping. I promised myself that this year I would keep on top of it rather than trying to remember everything two months later! Bwana asafiwe! (Auto-correct just changed “Bwana” to banana. I like bananas, but I’d rather Praise the Lord.)
TZ 2016 – and HERE (5/2)
Where did Sunday and Monday go? Well, most of Sunday was spent on a plane (after ALL of Saturday was spent on a plane). We arrived in Dar Es Salaam on schedule and were met by our taxi driver, Moshambo, who we had met last year, after some fun and games with getting the tablets through customs. (Prayer and Bill’s stubbornness got us through without paying tax, and we have since learned how to get the proper paper work in advance for future years.). Showers and dinner at our hotel. Lights out by 8:00 pm. We were exhausted!
TZ 2016 ….GO
I always stay up too late the night before I leave on a big trip. It was the same last night. There is always one more thing to find and pack, books to buy for my kindle while I still have good wi-fi service, a dish to wash, or even a blog post to write and post. The alarm went off after achieving about 4 and half hours sleep. I didn’t register it at first. It was still dark out, and recently it has been quite light when it is time to get up.
The car arrived right on schedule, and after a final pat to each of the cats, who I am sure will take excellent care of the house while we’re gone (no they won’t, but Chris will) we got all four bags plus backpacks loaded into the car and headed south to JFK airport. Bill had made some coffee with freshly roasted beans and found some disposable “go” cups, so we sat like royalty in the back of the car, sipping our morning Java.
Bill was offered a deal for an upgrade when he went online to check us in, so dropping off luggage and going through security was a breeze. And we’ll get to sit upstairs with oodles of leg room in the Air Bus between NYC and Dubai.
We are now relaxing in a lounge, enjoying a little breakfast and catching up on the communications we didn’t have time for in the rush of the last few days.
I ask your prayers for our safe travel and also for myself and our family as we deal with some not-unexpected news that came as we drove to the airport. In the mean time, God is good. Munga ni mwema wakati wote!